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Collegium IReaale 1Wovi lEborad 



THE 



ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY 






OF 



COLUMBIA COLLEGE 



GEORGE H.' MOORE, LL.D. 

SUPERINTENDENT OF THE LENOX LIBRARY 



The baby figure of the giant mass 
Of things to come 




NEW YORK 

PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR 

M DCCC XC 



Read before the Neiu York Historical Society, April t^th, 1887. 



Copyright, 1890, by 
GEORGE H. MOORE 



THOW'9 

PRINTING ANO BOOKBINDINQ COMPANY, 

NEW YORK. 



THE ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY OF 
COLUMBIA COLLEGE. 




HE New York Historical Society has published 
two " histories " of New York, both very val- 
uable* contributions of materials for the fut- 
ure historian, although their partisan charac- 
ter deprives them of such authority as belongs to the 
standards of historical literature. Widely as they differ, 
however, in almost every point of view, a careful study 
of the pages of William Smith and Thomas Jones will 
reveal a substantial agreement on one point — that the 
middle of the eighteenth century was the Golden Age 
of Colonial New York, the happiest period in its event- 
ful history. 

Nearly a century and a half had gone by after Henry 
Hudson, under the flag of the Dutch East India Com- 
pany, entered the harbor and passed up the great river 
which still proudly bears his honored name. Almost 
a century earlier still, its waters had been ploughed 
by the keel of a Spanish ship in which Estevan 
Gomez, once pilot of the great Magellan, first displayed 
the flag of an European sovereign in this region — 



4 The Origin and Early History of 

thence known in some of the earlier maps as " The 
Land of Gomez." 

" For the time has been here (to the world be it known) 
When all a man sailed by, or saw, was his own." 

The Dutch colonized and controlled the country for 
half a century, at the end of which the English rule was 
established, and continued, with a trifling interruption, 
for another quarter of a century after the period to which 
I have referred. 

Yet colonial New York, succeeding New Netherland 
as the heir and successor of all its past, had reached the 
serene and self-satisfying plane of its Golden Age — with 
little or no provision for education, beyond the simplest 
rudiments of learning and catechistic instruction. The 
most competent contemporary authority is emphatic in his 
declaration of the utter disregard of education. He says 
that the schools were of the lowest order^ — the instructors 
wanted instruction ; and, through the long shameful 
neglect of all the arts and sciences, the common speech 
was extremely corrupt, and the evidences of a bad taste, 
both as to thought and language, were visible in all the 
proceedings of the people, public and private. 

The earliest public act in New Netherland on the sub- 
ject of education to which I am able to refer, is the ordi- 
nance of Director General Stuyvesant and his Council, 
passed a few months before the conquest of the coun- 
try by the English, for the better and more careful in- 
struction of youth in the principles of the Reformed 
Religion. Its preamble indicates the very narrow cur- 
riculum in which the youthful Dutchmen were exercised. 

" Whereas it is most highly necessary and most im- 
portant that the youth from childhood up be instructed 
not only in Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, but es- 



Columbia College. 5 

pecially and chiefly in the principles and fundamentals 
of the Reformed Religion, according to the lesson of 
that wise King, Solomon — Train up a child in the way 
he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart 
from it — so that in time such men may proceed there- 
from, as may be fit to serve their Fatherland as well in 
the Church as in the State " &c. Ordinance of the ijtk 
March, 1664. 

The earliest English laws,, promulgated a few months 
later, strictly required the Constable and Overseers ap- 
pointed in every town, " frequently to admonish the 
inhabitants of instructing their children and servants in 
matters of religion, and the laws of the country ; " thus 
keeping up the Dutch method of training for service in 
Church and State. The royal instructions to the gov- 
ernors of the plantations absolutely forbade the ad- 
mission of any person to keep school without the license 
of the Lord Bishop of London or of the said governors 
respectively ; but it is evident that the restriction was 
often disregarded here, where it was certainly good 
policy to encourage English preachers and schoolmas- 
ters, among so many Dutch. I find a petition to the 
Court of Assizes in 1677 that there may be some way 
established for the maintenance of a schoolmaster in 
each town, which was met by a reference to the towns 
themselves and the Court of Sessions. As early as 
1 69 1, April 8th, the House of Assembly directed the At- 
torney General to prepare a bill appointing a school- 
master to teach English to youth in every town in the 
Province. The bill was framed, but no other trace 
of the scheme is now to be found : no such .law was 
ever passed. 

The brief sketch which I shall gi^e of actual legisla- 
tion on the subject will only punctuate and emphasize 



6 The Origin and Early History of 

" the utter neglect of education " here, before the middle 
of the eighteenth century. 

Of all the Royal Governors of New York, Edward 
Hyde, Lord Cornbury, a cousin of Queen Anne, a 
grandson of the great Earl of Clarendon, himself after- 
wards an Earl of Clarendon, was the most cordially de- 
tested here in his life-time, and has borne the most dis- 
graceful reputation ever since. If anybody has ever 
said a word in his favor, I am just now unable to recall 
it, to accompany the record which connects his name 
imperishably with the first proposition for a college in 
New York. It is (or ought to be, for the fact was pub- 
licly demonstrated more than twenty years ago) well 
known to those who are critically familiar with the ear- 
liest history of Trinity Church, that the authorities of 
that Church became anxious to cure the acknowledged 
defects in their original charter, and accomplished that 
design during the administration of Cornbury. It was 
then, too, that the ulterior design of the Ministry Act 
of 1693 was developed and secured, to make everybody 
contribute to the maintenance of the Episcopal Church, 
that Church being and continuing Trinity Church, whose 
Rector was the official " Minister of the City of New 
York ; " until the Legislature of the State of New York, 
immediately after the Revolution, laid the axe to the 
root of that ancient abuse. This was the same Legisla- 
ture, by the way, which, in 1 784, gave the new name to 
the College, whose history we are to consider. 

The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, in a 
report on the State of Religion in New York, printed 
in London in 1705, stated that, " A Latin Free School 
is likewise establish'd at New York by the influence of 
His Excellency, the Lord Cornbury, with two others, by 
which means sound Religion visibly gains ground there. 



Columbia College. J 

There are also Proposals going on for building a Col- 
lege on the Queen's Farm by Subscription." 

At a meeting of the Churchwardens and Vestry of 
Trinity Church, on the 19th day of February, 1703 : 

" It being moved, which way the King's Farme which 
is now vested in Trinity Church should be let to farm, 
it was unanimously agreed, That the Rector and Church 
Wardens should waite upon my Lord Cornbury the 
Gov"" to know what parte thereof his Lordship did de- 
signe towards the Colledge which his Lord^ designs to 
have built, and thereupon, to publish placarts for the let- 
ting thereof at the public outcry, to the highest bidder." 
Records : i. 43. 

Whatever his Lordship's designs may have been — 
no other trace of them remains excepting this notice 
from the Records of Trinity Church, which, half a cen- 
tury later, became the chief benefactor of the college 
then established. 

The earliest enactment in New York on the subject 
of education was the law of the 27th November, 1702. 
It appears to have been promoted in the first instance 
by a petition from the Common Council of this city, 
urging the necessity for a free school here. The title 
of the act was "An Act for the Encouragement of a 
Gramm-ar Free School in the City of New York!' 

It provided for the appointment of a skilful and com- 
petent person for the instruction of youth and male 
children of such parents as were of French and D^utch 
extraction, as well as of the English, in the languages 
and other learning usually taught in grammar schools. 
A tax of ;^50 per annum was to be levied on the city 
for the support of the schoolmaster, who was to be 
recommended by the Common Council, but to be li- 
censed and approved by the Bishop of London, or the 



8 The Origin and Early History of 

governor of the province. This law was limited to the 
term of seven years, when it was allowed to expire in 
consequence (as is stated in the preamble of a subse- 
quent act) of the misapplication of the monies raised for 
the payment of the teacher. 

Whether the legislature was deterred by the result of 
the first attempt, or influenced by the general indiffer- 
ence of the community in the matter of education, I am 
unable to say ; but it was not until 1732, that the sec- 
ond effort was made to promote public education by 
suitable legislation, which resulted in ''An Act to en- 
courage a Publick School, in the City of New York, for 
teaching Latin, Greek, and MathematicksT Passed 
the 14th of October, 1732. The preamble to this Act 
is as follows : 

" Whereas good Learning is not only a very great 
AccompHshment, but the properest Means to attain 
Knowledge, improve the Mind, Morality and good 
Manners, and to make Men better, wiser and more use- 
ful to their Country, as well as to themselves. 

" And Whereas the City and Colony of New York 

abounds with Youths, of a Genius not inferiour to other 

Countries, it must undoubtedly be a Loss to the Public 

and a Misfortune to such Youths, if they are destitute 

of the Opportunity to improve their Capacities by a 

liberal Education." 

* * * ft 

"And Altho' the not rightly applying of a temporary 
Salary, heretofore allowed for a Free-School, has been 
the chief Cause that an Encouragement for the like pur- 
pose has ever since been neglected ; but inasmuch as 
the present Circumstances afford a better Prospect, and 
to the End our Youths may not be deprived of the 
Benefits before-mentioned," etc. 



Columbia College. 9 

The Rev. Alexander Malcolm, a minister from Aber- 
deen, had some time previously engaged in a private 
school, in which he had given satisfactory proof of his 
abilities to teach Latin^ Greek and Mathematics, but 
without commanding a sufficient income for his support. 
Those who became interested in his work obtained the 
favor of the Common Council and this Act of 1732 was 
the result of their efforts. It established a free school 
for five years, of which Mr. Malcolm was to be the 
master. For its support forty pounds were to be levied 
on the City of New York, to which were to be added 
certain residuary proceeds of the monies to be received 
from licenses to hawkers and pedlers. For this consid- 
eration Mr. Malcolm was to teach twenty youth, to be 
selected from the several counties in the proportion of 
ten from New York, two from Albany, and one from 
each of the eight other counties, such youth to be selected 
by the corporations of the Cities of New York and Albany, 
and elsewhere by the Courts of General Sessions. In 
December, 1737, this act having expired, it was renewed 
for one year. Although it was not afterwards renewed, 
the school was continued for a time, and I find an appro- 
priation to the Rev. Mr. Malcolm in 1740, which may 
have been a further encouragement. See Appendix : i. 

I have been able to find no other provisions on the 
subject of education in the acts of the colonial legis- 
lature, prior to those which were immediately connected 
with the College. 

At the time when the project for a college appeared, 
the whole number of educated men in the colony was 
very small. For many years before, Mr. De-Lancey, 
who had spent some time in the University of Cam- 
bridge, England, and Mr. Smith (the father of the his- 
torian) who graduated at Yale College in 1719, had been 



lo The Origin and Early History of 

"the only academics in the province, except such as 
were in holy orders " — and in 1746, only thirteen more 
could be named. These were 

Peter VanBrugh Hendrick Hansen 

Livingston Wm. Peartree Smith 

John Livingston Caleb Smith 

Philip Livingston Benjamin Woolsey 

William Livingston William Smith, Jr. 

William Nicoll John McEvers and 

Benjamin Nicoll John Van Horne 

William Smith, Jr., who was one of them, and who 
made and preserved this list, says of them — 

" These being in the morning of life, there was no ac- 
ademic but Mr. De Lancey on the bench (he was then 
Chief Justice) or in either of the three branches of the 
legislature ; and Mr. Smith was the only one at the bar. 
Commerce engrossed the attention of the principal fam- 
ilies, and their sons were usually sent from the writing 
school to the counting house, and thence to the West 
India Islands — a practice introduced by the persecuted 
refugees from France, who brought money, arts and 
manners, and figured as the chief men in it — almost the 
only merchants in it from the commencement of this cen- 
tury, until the distinction between them and others was 
lost by death and the inter-communion of their posterity 
by marriage, with the children of the first Dutch stock, 
and the new emigrants from Great Britain and Ireland." 

New York was at that time a compact and comfort- 
able little city of about 10,000 inhabitants, all told. It 
contained perhaps 2500 buildings, many of them well 
built brick houses, covered with tiled roofs. It was a 
mile in length, and not more than half that in breadth. 



Columbia College. ii 

Such was its shape, its centre of business, and the situ- 
ation of the houses, that the average cartage, from one 
part to another, was not more than a quarter of a mile 
— " than which," says the contemporary writer who is 
my authority, " nothing can be more advantageous to 
a trading city." See Appendix : ii. 

The first step taken towards founding a College in 
the Province of New York was in December, 1746, 
when an Act was passed for raising by Lottery ;^ 2 2 50 
for that use. The additional sum of ;^ 1800 was after- 
wards raised by another Lottery provided for in the 
spring of 1748. In the fall of the year 1751, the Leg- 
islature passed another Act to invest certain Trustees 
therein named with the sum of ;i^3443. 8^ The powers 
granted them were, to put the money out at interest ; 
let out any lands that might be given them for the use 
of the College ; and to receive the proposals of such as 
desired to have the college erected in certain cities or 
towns. Limited as those powers were, the appoint- 
ment of the Trustees gave rise to discussion at once ; 
and ulterior designs of what was called the Church 
Party to engross the grand source of education pro- 
posed were suspected in the constitution of the Board, 
which consisted of six Episcopalians, two of the Dutch 
Church and one Presbyterian. Meantime however, on 
the 8th of April, 1752, the Rector, Wardens and Vestry- 
men of Trinity Church offered the ground for a College, 
and without any reservation or condition whatever. , 

On the 24th of July, 1753, an act was passed at 
Jamaica, where the legislature was then sitting, to 
continue the duty of excise to the ist day of -Novem- 
ber, 1767, by the second section of which ^^500 per an- 
num was to be paid to the Trustees before mentioned 
" to be by them appropriated and distributed in salaries 



1 2 The Origin and Early History of 

for the Chief Master, and Head of the Seminary, by 
whatever name he may be hereafter called, and for such, 
and so many other Masters and Officers, Uses and Pur- 
poses concerning the Establishment of the said Semi- 
nary, as the said Trustees shall from Time to Time, in 
their Discretion, think needful." The third section im- 
powered the Trustees to apportion the salaries to the 
Masters, and directed the Payments of them ; and the 
fourth enabled them "To ascertain the Rates which 
each Student or Scholar shall annually pay for his edu- 
cation at the said Seminary." 

On the 2 2d of November, 1753, the Trustees pro- 
ceeded to designate the Rev. Dr. Samuel Johnson, of 
Stratford, Connecticut, as the President of the pro- 
posed college, and the Rev. Mr. Chauncey Whittelsey, 
a Presbyterian minister of New Haven, to be his as- 
sistant. The salary of the latter was fixed at £200 
per annum, and that of the former at ^250 per annum, 
which was expected to be reinforced by a further com 
pensation of ;^.200 per annum as an assistant minister 
of Trinity Church, to which office he was called a few 
weeks afterwards. 

Dr. Johnson had some doubts and reluctance to ac- 
cept the position, on account of his advancing years ; 
but finding that without him, the plan was likely to fail, 
he consented and came to New York in April, 1754. 

The Trustees followed up their advantages vigorously, 
and petitioned the Lieutenant Governor, Chief Justice 
De Lancey for a Charter of Incorporation for the new 
institution, which notwithstanding a very violent oppo- 
sition, passed the seals on the 31st day of October, 
1754 — the birth-day of the College of the Province of 
New York. 

It was an important era in the history of New York, 



Columbia College. 13 

when "our little obscure embryo, which consists as I 
am informed only of about half a dozen lads " (to quote 
the language of one of the most bitter opponents of the 
College) was ushered into life and endowed with lasting 
vitality by this truly Royal Charter. It is eminently fit 
and proper that the foundation, the founders, and the 
earliest benefactors of the first New York College re- 
ceive due honor and fit commemoration. I offer on this 
occasion my humble but grateful contribution, humble 
as becomes my own rank as a scholar, but grateful for 
the good gifts and influence of a great institution of 
learning, standing so honorably through so many gen- 
erations in the midst of a commercial city. 

It bore the name of King's College almost thirty 
years, during the last eight of which it was in disas- 
trous eclipse, in the midst of the confusion of civil war 
— out of which it emerged with the new name of Colum- 
bia, a word and 7iame then for the first time recognized 
a7iywhere iit law and history. The tardy justice to the 
memory of the great discoverer embodied in that name 
found its first legal recognition in the statute of New 
York, passed on the first of May, 1784, which confirmed 
and amended the royal charter granted in 1754, and de- 
clared " that the College within the City of New York 
heretofore called King's College be forever hereafter 
called and known by the name of Columbia College." 

As the limits of a single paper, wholly devoted to 
the subject, would not be sufficient for an account of the 
College Controversy — a very brief notice must suffice 
for the present occasion. It was an episode, or one of 
a series of episodes in the colonial history of New 
York, which taken together illustrate the whole record. 
The religious and political discussions which grew out 
of this first effort to establish a permanent seat of edu- 



14 The Origin and Early History of 

cation in New York are preserved in a very copious lit- 
erature, long neglected, and now obscure and almost 
foro-otten. There is an immense mass of materials, 
which defy any brief analysis. 

The affair of the College was mixed up with the con- 
flicts of political parties ; and the spirit of party politics, 
which was deplored by one of the writers of the day as 
having " long been the bane, the curse, and the infamy 
of the Province," was never at any time more violent or 
virulent, excepting in times of actual civil war. The 
bare suggestion of an aggressive church policy revived 
and stimulated the general discontent on account of the 
ministry acts, making even the Dutch communion un- 
easy, with whom a good understanding had been always 
maintained by the Episcopalians — a harmony creditable 
to both, which is one of the most gratifying features in 
the history of New York. I have met with a singular 
illustration of this in a classification of the Governors 
appointed in the Charter of the College itself, made by 
the then Rector of Trinity Church. A few days after 
the sealing of the Charter, Rev. Mr. Barclay declared in 
a private letter to an intimate friend, referring to the ac- 
tion of Lieut. Gov. De Lancey : . . . " to do him 
justice, he has given us a good majority of Churchmen, 
no less than eleven of the Vestry being of the number. 
There are but eight of the Dutch Church, most of them 
good men and true, and two Dissenters. These were 
the two Presbyterians, of course — for these, alas ! were 
the troublers of the New York Israel. And they had 
good reasons for their resentment. 

As we look back over all that historical period, it is 
easy to see whose policy was wrong. The managers 
of the Church of England made a great mistake in their 
continued efforts to suppress the Presbyterians, who 



Columbia College. 15 

were unable to secure legal protection under charter 
privileges. People who are restive under arbitrary and 
needless restraint furnish a fruitful field for faction : and 
the intolerant arrogance of a few clerical bigots towards 
the great dissenting majority was almost as potent a 
factor in the affairs of America, at that period, as the 
insane greed of the English merchants, which made the 
smuggler a hero, and the violation of the English laws 
of trade, a virtuous occupation for the King's subjects in 
America. These selfish struggles to secure and main- 
tain monopoly in religion and monopoly in trade culmi- 
nated in the final rejection of British authority through- 
out the most valuable of her colonial possessions. 

It was the great good fortune and lasting honor of 
the nascent College to have for its first President, one 
of the most learned scholars and acute thinkers of his 
time in America — the Reverend Doctor Samuel John- 
son, an Episcopal missionary in Stratford, Connecticut. 
He had been the friend, disciple, and correspondent of 
a still greater man, with whom his name must be al- 
ways associated. This was Bishop Berkeley, whose 
prophetic lines concerning America have done more to 
make his name familiar here, than his grand though 
unsuccessful scheme of an American University in the 
Isles of Bermuda — an enterprise which has been justly 
characterized as " the noblest enterprise in Christian 
Missions of the last century, or of almost any century 
since the Apostolic age." 

John Stuart Mill said of Berkeley : " Of all who, from 
the earliest times, have applied the powers of their 
minds to metaphysical inquiries, he is the one of great- 
est philosophic genius ; though among those are in- 
cluded Plato, Hobbes, Locke, Hartley and Hume ; Des- 
cartes, Spinoza, Leibnitz and Kant. 



1 6 The Origin and Early History of 

Although Berkeley died before the project of the 
New York College had taken any definite shape, his 
practical suggestions in a letter to Johnson with refer- 
ence to it, connect his name with its history. His ex- 
pression of " good hopes," if Johnson could be "at the 
head of it," is the earliest intimation I have met with of 
that design which was afterwards carried out in his 
appointment. Johnson was a truly great and good man 
— and his service to the College, although much inter- 
rupted by the terrors of the small-pox in the city, and 
domestic misfortune, impressed its modest and humble 
beginnings with a character which soon made its early 
history a fitting prologue to the imperial theme of Co- 
lumbia. 

I regret that I must omit the admirable notice or ad- 
vertisement of May 31, 1754, in which Dr. Johnson set 
forth the design of the College — followed by the notice 
on the ist of July for candidates to present themselves 
for examination. Eight pupils were admitted in the 
first week of that month and tuition began July 17th, 
1754. See Appendix : iii. 

Further notices and admissions appear in due order, 
and public examinations by the Trustees in 1755 and 
1756, bring us to a very important point — when on the 
23d day of August, in the latter year, the first stone of 
the College building was laid by Sir Charles Hardy, 
with appropriate ceremonies of great interest. These I 
will not recite, but submit for your examination the orig- 
inal manuscript account of everything that was done — 
prepared at the time for the newspapers of the day, 
in which it was duly printed. It is in the handwriting 
of President Johnson himself — a genuine and most pre- 
cious relic of the occasion. 

The College was in a place then beautiful for situa- 



Colwnbia College. ij 

tion, about one hundred and fifty yards from the bank 
of the Hudson river which it overlooked, commanding a 
very extensive prospect of the opposite shore and coun- 
try of New Jersey, the City and Island of New York, 
Long Island, Staten Island, the Bay with its Islands, 
and the Narrows. The present tenants of the College 
property between Barclay and Murray Streets, Church 
St. and the River, would be puzzled to find any of these 
features in their present situation. 

The first commencement was held in St. George's 
Chapel, on Wednesday, the 21st June, 1758. I have a 
particular account of it, as well as most of those which 
followed, but will only mention now that Samuel Pro- 
voost, afterwards the well-known patriot Bishop of New 
York, delivered the first public oration by a graduating 
student of the college. It was of course a great day for 
New York. We can imagine its interest in a communi- 
ty in which public amusements were few — the city being 
the centre of the social life of the colony, the residence of 
the Governor and public officers, as well as a great part 
of the principal families — many of which were repre- 
sented among the students in names destined to high 
rank in social and political life, and to fill many honor- 
able pages in their country's history. 

The establishment of the College was speedily fol- 
lowed by liberal benefactions. A list of the Benefactors 
is extant in the handwriting of Dr. Johnson — from which 
I copy: 

A List of the Benefactors to Kings College. 

1. The Rector, Church Wardens & Vestry of Trinify Church 

gave 5 or 6 acres of land where the College stands worth 
four or five thousand pounds. 

2. The Founders appointed in the Charter who each sub- 



1 8 The Origin and Early History of 

scribed, some ^50, some ;^ioo, some ;^200 as appears 
by the list. 

3. A considerable number of subscribers gentlemen of the city, 

as appears by the list of subscribers. 

4. Sir Charles Hardy gave ;^5oo. 

5. General Shirley gave ;^ioo. 

6. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel ^500. 

7. Paul Richard, Esq. bequeathed ;i^5oo. 

8. James Alexander, Esq. bequeathed ;!^ioo. 

9. Joseph Murray, Esq. bequeathed his estate and Library, 

about ;^8,ooo. 

10. The Rev. Dr. Bristow of London bequeathed his Library, 

about 1500 volumes. 

11. Mr. Tanner, Rector of Lowestoff in Suffolk bequeathed 

20 guineas. 

12. Two persons unknown gave each a guinea. 

13. Mr. Noel, bookseller gave Romain's ed. of M. Calasio's 

Hebr. Concordance, 4 vols, folio. 

14. Sundry gentlemen in Oxford gave books, whose names are 

in them. 

15. Edward Antil, Esq. gave about ;^iooo sterling. 

16. Mr. KiLBOURN, painter, gave the president. Dr. Johnson's 

picture. 

17. Dr. Morton sent a curious collection of ancient alphabets 

on copper plates. 

18. Mr. George Harison presented us with the engraving 

of the seal which cost 10 guineas. 

19. 1763 the Bell. 

20. General Monkton gave ;^200. 

21. Jacob Le Roy, Esq. gave the organ. 

•.• The last two are additions to Pres^ Johnson's list, in 
the handwriting of his successor. 

The college building was finished as early as May, 
1760, when, it is recorded by Dr. Johnson, "we began 
to lodge and diet in it ; " and Mr. Willet was chosen 
Steward. This appointment was confirmed by a formal 



Cohimbia College. 19 

order of March 25th, 1761, when the following entry 
appears in the minutes of the Governors : 

Ordered: that Mr. Edward Willet be appointed Steward of 
King's College during pleasure to provide such of the Students 
as have an Inclination to diet with him upon such Terms as 
shall be agreed upon between them. And that he have the use 
of two rooms and a Kitchen in the College and such part of the 
Garden as the President and he shall agree upon. He causing 
the Students' rooms to be kept clean, and their beds made. 
Also, that the Students Breakfast, Dine and Sup together in the 
College Hall but that they be allowed no Meat at their Sup- 
pers. 

It would seem that some difficulties must have arisen 
about the terms of board between the Steward and the 
Students ; for a few weeks only had passed away, when 
on the I2th of May, 1761, the Governors 

Ordered: That the Reverend Mr. Barclay, the Reverend 
Dr. Johnson, the Reverend Mr. Auchmuty and Mr. John Liv- 
ingston or any three of them be a Committee to settle the Rates 
that the Students are to pay for their Diet. 

It is obvious that this settlement must involve the de- 
termination of what the Steward was to furnish as well 
as the prices to be paid ; and the document which I hold 
in my hand preserves the interesting record of both. 

In glancing over the names of those little groups of 
boys who formed the first classes of the College, and 
recognizing so many of them as afterwards reaching the 
first rank in Qur State and National history we nat- 
urally think, not only of their studies, but their boyish 
life and amusements, their games, their physical training 
and discipline, their mode of life, and their dietl 

" Upon what meat were these young Caesars fed 
That they did grow so great ? " 



20 The Origin and Early History of 

You would hardly imagine that I have asked this ques- 
tion with the purpose of answering it. Yet it is even 
so. This paper, to which I just referred, is official. 

Rules for Dieting 

THE 

Students belonging to Kings College, 
In NEW-YORK. 

Weekly Rates for Dieting, 
For Breakfast, Dinner and Supper, ii/. per Week. 
Breakfast and Dinner, 8:3. 

Dinner, — — 7:0. 

Dinner and Supper, — 8:3. 

Breakfast, — — 3:8. 

Supper, — — 3:8. 

To be paid Quarterly. 
Bill of Fare for every Day in the Week. 
Sunday, Roast Beef and Pudding. 
Monday, Leg Mutton, &c. and Roast Veal. 
Tuesday, Com'd' Beef and Mutton Chops. 
Wednesday, Pease Porrige, and Beef Steaks. 
Thursday, Com'd Beef, &c. and Mutton Pye. 
Friday, Leg Mutton and Soop. 
Saturday, Fish, fresh and salt, in their Season. 
Breakfast ; Coffee or Tea, and Bread and Butter. 
Supper ; Bread, Butter, and Cheese, or Milk, or the 
Remainder of Dinner. 
Settled by the Governors of the College, and ordered 
to be published. 

I have no time to dwell on these interesting details, 
although I am well aware of their importance. 

** The Business of the Kitchen's great, 
For it is fit that Men should eat, 
Nor was it there denied." 

I cannot refrain, however, from noting the fact that 
Saturda)^ (not Friday) was the fish-day — and I have a 



Columbia College. 21 

shrewd suspicion that salt codfish was never out of 
season, and that fish-balls and perhaps baked beans 
may have been a frequent addition to the Sunday- 
breakfast. It should not be forgotten, that the first 
President of the College was not only a great philoso- 
pher, but also a Connecticut Yankee ! 

On the whole, it is indeed, a notable and historic bill 
of fare. We know who got it up — the Rector of Trin- 
ity Church and his two assistant ministers, one already 
an Oxford Doctor of Divinity, and the other two soon to 
be decorated with the same lofty title. The only lay- 
man on the committee was Mr. John Livingston, one of 
a very numerous as well as eminent family, whose his- 
tory and special qualifications for this duty I have not 
studied out, because in the face of the three clergymen, 
he could have had little to say. 

No doubt a due regard to economy, as well as whole- 
some food, was observed in these provisions ; and a 
similar policy was continued for many years. After the 
college had acquired its new name, the Regents were 
** attentive to render the course of education as cheap 
in this college as it was in any other." And with that 
view, they engaged a Steward to board the students, at 
the rate of One Dollar and a Half per week ! I regret 
that I am unable to furnish the memt of this later period. 

The " woman question," with respect to which the 
oldest and most conservative colleges in America have 
been taking very long strides of late, became a subject 
of attention, if not solicitude, at an early date, in the 
Colleofe of the Province of New York. The second 
President was a young man and a bachelor,' and the 
Governors anticipated his appointment to that high 
office, by making the following singular order, on the 
1st of March, 1763 : 



22 The Origin and Early History of 

*' Resolved, that no Woman, on any pretence whatever (ex- 
cept a Cook) be allowed to reside within the College for the 
future, and that those who are now there be removed as soon 
as conveniently may be." 



At the same meeting in which this very conservative 
resolution was adopted, the existence of a library was 
officially recognized, by the appointment of the first 
Librarian — Robert Harpur, with the modest salary of 
^lo per annum. That library has witnessed strange 
vicissitudes under his numerous successors — culminat- 
ing at last in that "round and top of sovereignty" as- 
sumed by the present *' school of library economy," in 
which its administration is conducted and illustrated by 
a " chief librarian, four librarians of departments, and 
twenty assistants," mostly females, at the yearly ex- 
pense of many thousands of dollars. 

The college was hardly less fortunate in its second 
President — who presented a strong contrast to his 
predecessor in. many other respects besides age. Myles 
Cooper was born in England, in 1737. Educated at 
first in one of the great public schools, he afterwards 
went to Oxford, where he took his Master's degree 
April 1 6th, 1760, and was soon after chosen to a Fel- 
lowship in Queen's College. He was emphatically an 
Oxford man, in all his habits, opinions and tastes, — his 
politics, religion, learning and literature. In 1761, he 
published at Oxford a volume of miscellaneous poetry, 
mostly written several years before, the result, as he 
said himself, of " an irresistible itch of versifying and an 
unaccountable desire of appearing in the capacity of an 
author." It is impossible to find or make a better crit- 
ical estimate of the work and its author, than that of 
our late honored associate, Mr. Verplanck. 



Columbia College, 23 

" This collection consists of occasional poems, grave 
and gay pastorals, imitations and translations from the 
classics, and versifications of select passages of Ossian. 
It does not appear to me to bear any very strong marks 
of original poetic genius. It contains no deep views of 
sentiment or character, nor any strong paintings of ex- 
ternal nature. The author, like many other young 
scholars, seems to have mistaken taste for talent, and a 
lively perception of the graces of classical composition 
for the warmth of a poetical fancy. He was by no 
means blind to the wild and artless beauties of unculti- 
vated nature, yet he recognized them more from com- 
parison with those poetical images with which he had 
stored his memory, than from the quick sensibility of 
his own mind. Hence it is, that his poems are filled 
with traditionary images, and common-place mythologi- 
cal allusions ; his wit is too often borrowed from Mar- 
tial, and his pastorals are faint reflections of the rural 
scenes of Virgil, Spencer and Pope — ' the shadow of a 
shade.' As a pastoral and descriptive poet, he must 
accordingly be classed among the bards whom Crabbe 
has so happily described, as those who 

"The flattering dream prolong 
Mechanic echoes of the Mantuan song, 
From truth and nature, still content to stray. 
Where Virgil, not where fancy leads the way." 

" Yet his taste is correct, his versification pleasing, 
his command of language extensive, and his expression 
select and choice. His preface is written with jease and 
sprightliness, and the whole collection denotes a mind 
capable of much higher things, in a different application 
of its powers. These poems, after enjoying their little 



24 The Origin and Early History of 

day of popularity, while they * circulated in manuscript,' 
or were praised on their first appearance, by the au- 
thor's friends, now rest undisturbed and almost forgot- 
ten." 

His reputation as a scholar stood so high at Oxford, 
that in 1762, when Dr. Johnson, the President of our 
college, applied to his friend Archbishop Seeker, to se- 
lect from one of the English universities a person quali- 
fied to assist him in the course of instruction, and shortly 
to succeed him as President, that excellent, learned and 
judicious prelate, after much inquiry, recommended Mr. 
Cooper for that important station. 

Having received priest's orders in the Church of Eng- 
land, he embarked at Portsmouth in the ship Edward, 
which after a long voyage came up to this city at ten 
o'clock on Saturday night, October 31, 1762. With 
several other vessels she had been under convoy of the 
Scarborough, 20 gunship — from Portsmouth, 24th Au- 
gust, via Madeira, which they left six weeks before the 
day of arrival here. 

Mr. Cooper was immediately appointed Professor of 
Moral Philosophy and to assist the President not only 
in those departments of instruction which had been as- 
signed to that officer, viz., Greek, Logic, Metaphysics 
and Ethics, but also in the government of the College. 

The whole burden of administration soon devolved 
upon him, as Dr. Johnson resigned his office on the ist 
March, 1763, and on the 12th April, as stated in the 
newspapers of the day, " the Rev*^ Mr. Myles Cooper, 
A.M., of Queen's College, a Gentleman recommended 
by his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, for his 
distinguished Learning, firm Attachment to our happy 
Constitution, Probity and amiable Character, was unani- 
mously elected President of King's College in this city, 



Colu7nbia Callege. 25 

in the Room of the Rev. Doctor Johnson, who has re- 
signed." 

The youthful President (he was only twenty-six years 
of age) entered upon his duties with characteristic zeal 
and enthusiasm. He possessed personal qualities which 
commanded the esteem of men of more gravity than 
himself; and it is evident that his lively disposition was 
not indulged too far, from the uniform respect shown 
for him and his memory by his pupils and former asso- 
ciates. He was extremely witty and entertaining in 
conversation ; and the Revolutionary satirist seems to 
have indicated one of the phases of his merry disposi- 
tion in McFingal : 

" And lo ! a cardinal's hat is spread 
O'^x punster Cooper's reverend head." 

Mr. Verplanck, who undoubtedly knew personally 
more than one of Dr. Cooper's old friends and pupils, 
and spoke therefore not without authority, says that his 
moral character was without any serious reproach, al- 
though grave men were occasionally offended by the 
freedom and conviviality of his social habits. I find a 
contemporary memorandum by one of these serious and 
sober social oracles of the day which records that Dr. 
Cooper was "an eloquent writer of sermons, but a poor 
preacher . . . of no apparent piety." 

It is evident that Dr. Cooper applied himself with 
great activity to the promotion of the interests of the 
College ; and one signal illustration of the esteem in 
which he was held at Oxford is to be found in- the nu- 
merous gifts to the Library and other substantial ex- 
pressions of interest from that quarter. 

A society of gentlemen was formed here, too, who es- 



26 The Origin and Early History of 

tablished a fund to provide for a distribution of prizes — 
Medals and Books — in all the classes and studies. Two 
of these Silver Medals were publicly presented by the 
Literary Society to Benjamin Moore, afterwards a Presi- 
dent of the College, and Gouverneur Morris, " the in- 
spired penman of the Constitution," both members of 
the class of 1768. 

In 1 771, Dr. Cooper went to England, charged with 
special interests of the College and the Church, in whose 
affairs and counsels he was conspicuous. He was ab- 
sent nearly a year, returning in the latter part of Sept. 
1772, when he was received with an enthusiastic ovation 
by the students as well as the authorities of the College. 

Dr. Inglis, the President pro tempore during the ab- 
sence of Dr. Cooper, describes the situation in what he 
calls " a long, historical letter " to a friend, from " King's 
College, New York, Nov. 6, 1771," in which he refers 
to his occupation in " the drawing up many papers from 
the Clergy and College, to go by Dr. Cooper ; and 
lastly by moving to the College, where I am now fixed, 
and am to remain till Dr. Cooper returns. 

" The care of the College has now devolved on me, 
& this, with the duties of the Parish, which I must still 
go through, will keep me very busy this Winter. It is a 
scene of Life quite new to me, which I enter upon, with 
much diffidence. Every motive of Duty & Honour 
demands a vigorous Exertion in it ; and I sincerely pray 
that God may enable me to acquit myself as I ought. 



*' Dr. Cooper goes Home extremely well recommend- 
ed, not only by the Clergy, but by our worthy Governor 
[William Tryon], Sir William Johnson, and General 
Gage. He proposes to visit Ireland and Scotland be- 



Columbia College. 27 

fore he returns, and to collect money in the former for 
the College, if possible, and has carried recommenda- 
tory letters for the purpose. 

•H- * * ■}{- 

" The Governors of the College have petitioned his 
Majesty for a Royal Charter to constitute this College 
an University, with the Establishment of two or more 
Professorships ; and for a Remission of the Quit Rents 
on the Township, containing 25,000 Acres, lately granted 
to the Institution. If these Points can be gained, this 
Seminary will have an evident Superiority over all others 
on the Continent. The most effectual Steps have been 
also taken to bring the unhappy Lawsuit with Sir James 
Jay to a conclusion while Dr. Cooper is in England." 

Dr. Cooper came back to America at a time when 
the preliminary provincial contests had commenced 
which preceded the Revolution. He was at once found 
heartily on the side of the Government, and distinguished 
himself as a literary champion against the Whigs. His 
voice and pen were always ready; and his activity was 
conspicuous. His aggressive loyalty was rewarded by 
a corresponding unpopularity, growing at last into a 
threatening hostility, which culminated in a dangerous 
outbreak of the mob. He was aware of the risk he was 
incurring, when on the loth of May, 1775, he wrote to 
his friend and pupil, Isaac Wilkins, the Westchester 
Farmer, respecting his plans — 

" Whilst I stay in this country of confusion, which 
for the sake of the College, I am minded to do as long 
as I can with any degree of prudence." 

On that very night, he was aroused by a friendly mes- 
senger in advance of a midnight mob, from whose vio- 
lence he had barely time to escape with his life. After 
a night of exposure and distress, he found a temporary 



28 The Origin and Early History of 

shelter with his friend Mr. Stuyvesant, until he could 
reach one of his Majesty's ships, then lying in the har- 
bor — by which he left America forever — a few days later. 

The midnight attack upon him was laid before the 
British public in highly finished colors, before many 
weeks had elapsed : and he undoubtedly found friends 
and employment at once to comfort his exile. He was 
chiefly in London or at Oxford for two or three years 
following. Thomas Hutchinson, with his daughter 
Peggy heard him preach at the Temple in March and 
June, 1776 ; in the following month Hutchinson and his 
fellow exile from Massachusetts, Judge Oliver, viewed 
the Colleges at Oxford, Dr. Cooper waiting upon them 
with great politeness ; and on the 13th December of the 
same year, he preached a Fast Sermon before the au- 
thorities of the University at Oxford, which made a 
great sensation at the time. 

He became rector of Sulhamsted- Abbots in Berkshire 
and of Cowley in Gloucester, two small livings of which 
the first was in the gift of the Lord Chancellor, the sec- 
ond in that of his own college at Oxford. His chief pre- 
ferment, however, was that which made him the senior 
minister of the English Chapel at Edinburgh, in the lat- 
ter part of 1777 or beginning of 1778, a position which 
he continued to occupy until his death, which occurred 
on the 20th of May, 1785. 

I have extracts from his letters, written from Edin- 
burgh, which show that he was contented. " I am as 
pleasantly situated here as I could wish to be " — al- 
though as late as the 26th February, 1779, he said, 
" unless a happy termination of American disputes 
should enable me to resume my old situation." 

His death was very sudden — a letter from a young 
New Yorker, dated Edinburgh, May 30, 1785, says: 



Columbia College. 



'i>' 



29 



" Our good and worthy friend, Dr. Myles Cooper, 
o/zm President of King's College, New York, of whom 
I wrote lately to you, is now no more. I accompanied 
him to his house about one o'clock last Friday, and 
presently afterwards I met him going to dinner ; he 
asked very kindly about all his friends at New York : 
we then parted, and in about an hour afterwards he ex- 
pired. This event he had long expected, and most pa- 
tiently waited for." 

The following epitaph is said to have been found 
among his papers ; and it is certainly characteristic of 
the man : 

" Here lies a priest, of English blood. 
Who, living, liked whate'er was good, 
Good company, good wine, good name, 
Yet never hunted after fame ; 
But, as the first he still prefer'd. 
So here he chose to be inter'd. 
And, unobserved, from crowds withdrew 
To rest among a chosen few. 
In humble hopes, that sovereign love 
Will raise him to be blest above." 

About a mile east from Edinburgh, in a hollow plain, 
stands the ruinous church of Restalrig. It was founded 
by James Illd in honour of the Trinity and the Virgin 
Mary, and was endowed by the two next succeeding 
Monarchs. James V. placed there a Dean, nine pre- 
bendaries, and two singing boys. But, at the reforma- 
tion, the general assembly, in their wisdom, ordered it 
to be demolished, us a inommtent of idolatry^ Not- 
withstanding this superstitious mandate of the general 
assembly, the remains of a beautiful, Gothic window, in 
the east end of the church, and part of the walls, are yet 



30 The Origin and Early History of 

standing. The cemetery around it is used as a burying- 
place, principally by Englishmen, and those of the epis- 
copal communion. In the middle of the churchyard, 
there is a spacious vaulted mausoleum, of a circular fig- 
ure, with yew trees growing on its top, which was origi- 
nally the family vault of Logan of Restalrig, It after- 
wards became the property of the Lords of Balmerino, 
and presently belongs to the Earl of Moray. In this 
vault, there are the remains of persons who have been 
interred there some hundred years ago, particularly 
those of ' Lady Jonet Ker, Lady Restalrig, quha de- 
parted this life 17th May, 1756.' Ar?iot : 256. Dr. 
Cooper was buried in the cemetery of this old church. 

A few years later Dr. Nicholas Romayne, one of the 
interrupted students of the Revolutionary period, after- 
wards honorably connected with the administration of 
the college, revisited Edinburgh : twenty years after he 
had finished his medical studies in that city. He wrote 
thence to a friend in this city, September 20, 1800; a 
letter from which the following extract was taken : 

" Our friend Dr. Cooper lies interred in a churchyard 
belonging to an old abbey, now in ruins, about two miles 
east from this city. I have visited his grave, which was 
covered with nettles — no monument marked where he 
lay. The place was pointed out to me by an old school- 
master, who kept the register of the funerals, and re- 
sided near the churchyard. The recollection of what 
the man was, compared to the scene which then pre- 
sented itself, led to much mournful reflection. I have 
directed a small monument to be erected to his mem- 
ory 

** Ut infelici campo, 

Ubi Luctus regnat, et Pavor, 
Mortalibus non prorsus absit Solatium." 



Columbia College. 31 

You will agree with me not only that this letter is 
creditable to the head and heart of the writer (himself 
now long gone into the silent land, whither his friend 
had preceded him) but that the authorities of the 
wealthy corporation of which Doctor Cooper was the 
second President should see to it that his distant and 
obscure place of rest is sought out and marked by a fit- 
ting and lasting establishment of the " small monument," 
which, it is to be hoped, may still indicate the spot. 

Columbia's great professional schools of Medicine 
and Law, as well as Divinity, were not merely fore- 
shadowed, but established, during this first period of 
the College history. The Additional Charter of 1755, 
wisely sought and granted to secure the solid support 
of the Dutch interest, provided for the establishment of 
a Divinity School, for the instruction of candidates for 
the Ministry, in the churches of the Reformed Protest- 
ant Dutch Church, conforming to the Doctrine, Disci- 
pline, and Worship established in the United Provinces, 
by the Synod of Dort — thus giving it place as one of 
the first (if not the first) of the theological seminaries 
in America. 

As early as 1764, Dr. Samuel Clossy secured the co- 
operation of the authorities of the College in the institu- 
tion of anatomical lectures, the beginning in fact of the 
first Medical School in New York, and second in Amer- 
ica, duly established in King's College in 1767. Dr. 
Clossy had attained a high reputation in his profession, 
by the publication of a valuable volume on morbid anat- 
omy in London in 1763. I have a curious memorandum 
respecting him by an intelligent and observing contempo- 
rary, which declares that he was " a great scholar, from 
Ireland — a very eccentric character,, with every sense 
but common and worldly." 



32 The Origin aud Early History of 

Until the year 1774, no public school or teaching- ot 
Law, in the modern sense, seems to have been thought 
of in America. The study of that profession had pre- 
viously been almost entirely conducted in the offices of 
private attornies and counsellors. The first proposition 
to make it a matter of public instruction here was the 
foundation of a Professorship of Municipal Law in 
King's College, in April, 1774, by Governor William 
Tryon, who endowed it with the grant of an entire tawn- 
ship of valuable land — several thousand acres, with the 
usual reservations to the government, which, by a for- 
mal release of the quit-rents by the crown, soon became 
merely nominal. 

The endowment finally was lost to the College, with 
the other similar general gift, both townships being situ- 
ated in the territory since known as the State of Ver- 
mont. The law department shared however in the early 
benefactions of the State of New York after the revival 
of the College, and in 1793, James Kent became its 
first and greatest, and for many years its only. Pro- 
fessor. He delivered his first lecture, introductory to 
the course, on the 17th November, 1794. That lect- 
ure and the dissertations, which he printed soon after, 
were the preliminary part of the course which he pro- 
posed ; and to them undoubtedly is to be referred the 
origin of his grand Commentaries on American Law, 
which have been so familiar not only to the profession, 
but to all educated men during the greater part of the 
past century. Columbia College has a vested and inde- 
feasible interest in the fame of Chancellor Kent ; and it 
were well and worthily done, if one of her sons should 
^ive to the world that just account of his Life and 
Works, still wanting and so greatly to be desired. 

I will detain you but a moment longer to recall in con- 



Columbia College. 33 

elusion one or two memorable events in the history of 
the College, which occurred before the close of its first 
half-century. 

In the third year after its reorganization under the 
new name of Columbia, and during the progress of re- 
newed legislation by the State affecting all the colleges 
existing or proposed and the powers and duties of the 
Regents of the University respecting them — that body, 
which then controlled the administration of the college, 
gave a formal invitation to the State Legislature in both 
branches to attend the Commencement, which was cele- 
brated on the loth day of April, 1787. The invitation 
was accepted, although debates arose in the House of 
Assembly, in which Alexander Hamilton was conspicu- 
ous in its favor ; and an adjournment of the morning 
session at 1 1 o'clock until 3 p.m. gave the members 
the " opportunity to attend the Commencement of the 
students in Columbia College agreeable to a request of 
the Regents of the University to the Legislature. " I 
know of no parallel to this in the history of any other 
college, here or elsewhere. 

The Commencement of 1789 was honored by the pres- 
ence of President Washington and all the principal offi- 
cers of the Government of the United States, which had 
been first set in motion a few days before in this city. 
No greater honor can be recorded in the annals of Co- 
lumbia College — than this, that one of her high festivals 
was dignified by that great presence, and consecrated 
by the recollections and associations which belong to it 
in history ! 

The building in which that Commencement was cele- 
brated — St. Paul's Church — still stands. New York's 
oldest (I had almost said only) surviving monument of 
the 1 8th century of any architectural and historical 



34 Early History of Columbia College. 

value. Its consecration as one of the sanctuaries of the 
Christian Church has so far saved it from the ruthless 
invasion of the speculative spoiler, although the seething 
tides of common trade and daily traffic constantly ebb 
and flow around its sacred precincts. Grand old St. 
Paul's ! Glorious old St. Paul's ! Long may its vener- 
able walls continue to shelter and preserve its precious 
memories and protect the sacred relics of former gen- 
erations by which it is surrounded ! 



APPENDIX. 



I. — Francis Harison to the Common Council of New York. 

New York 31''. August 1732 
Worthy GentP. 

As you have of late years given many remarkable instances of 
your provident care for the good and wellfare of this City, where- 
by the revenue thereof is already considerably augmented, y" 
poor well provided for, its inhabitants in a great measure secur'd 
from the danger of fire and night robbers, and your publick 
buildings beautyfied and enlarg'd, I hope I shall not trespass on 
your time if I now use my best, though humble endeavours to 
prevail upon you, to think of an affair which is of the greatest 
consequence to us, and our posterity ; I mean a publick support 
for the encouragement of a learned Master in the instruction of 
youth, and advancement of learning amongst us, I am sure we 
are all sensible under what disadvantages we labour while we 
want one, and if I did not well know that we have now a fair op- 
ertunity of retreiving our past losses in matters of this nature, I 
should not presume to offer my thoughts in a manner which may 
seem officious or presumptuous, but does in reality proceed from 
that esteem and gratitude which I bear towards a body of Gen- 
tlemen, from whom I have long receiv'd the greatest civility. 

Gent". Mr. Malcolm who now teaches in this City was eminent 
in his own country (where literature is in the highest esteem and 
reputation) for all those accomplishments which fit and form a 
Gentleman for the education & instruction of others, and of this 
he has given signal proofs here already whereever his instruction 
& tuition have met with a suitable genius, and that necessary ap- 
plication which is almost the only requisite in this our happy 
climate, where that very excellent judge of these things is often 
heard to say that the Capacity & natural parts of our youth are 
equal to, if they doe not exceed those of our mother country, and 



36 Appendix. 

to these advantages we have at this juncture the additional hap- 
piness of seeing a most polite Gent" at the head of the Admin- 
istration, who in the education of his own sons, and many more 
shineing & distinguishing instances sets the best precedent and 
example before us ; a board of Council who have often express'd 
their good will to such an institution, and an house of Represent- 
atives whose constant beneficence and good intentions to their 
constituents leave us no room to doubt, but that upon your appli- 
cation they will admit of a bill to be brought in for the due en- 
couragement, advancement, and necessary support of learning 
and good manners, which will be a lasting honor to their names 
and a perpetual benefit to succeeding generations. — 

You have lately received a generous present of Books from y^ 
Society, sufficient at least to lay a noble foundation for a publick 
Library; but these books and their contents will be for ever pris- 
oners unless you are pleased to give your children a key to the 
Learned Languages, the expence of sending our Sons to Europe 
in search of knowledge is too heavy, but this expence may be 
saved by the cultivation of letters and our Youth may be soon ac- 
quainted with the old world without y^ charge or hazard of stir- 
ring one foot from this our new one ; and the antiquity of Greece 
and Rome would soon afford them a much more agreeable enter- 
tainment than a Billiard table, Musick, Sculpture, and painting 
would soon become the amusement of their leisure hours, which 
are allowable to unbend the mind after severer study's, and we 
can all know and feel how amiable, how endearing that youth is 
to Parents, friends and acquaintance who employs his vacant 
minutes in this innocent improveing manner. 

Gent" if the indisposition of my family had not forc'd me away 
too suddenly, I would have endeavoured in more proper terms to 
have become an humble Suitor to you in person upon this occa- 
sion, and not have presum'd to trouble you thus by letter, which 
will I hope Nevertheless have no other construction than that I 
am ambitious of approving myself 

Worthy Gent" Your Worships most obedient most faithfuU 
& most humble servant 

Fra : Harison. 

To The worshipful! the Mayor Aldermen & Assistants of the City 
of New York in Common Council convened. 



Appendix. ^j 



II. — Letter of Cadwallader Golden to Mr. Hezekiah Wat- 
kins, Missionary at New Windsor. 

[From MSS. of the Soc. for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts — Letter Book 

Vol 9. Bearcroft.] 

Coldengham, Dec'' 12, 1748. 

Reverend Sir, 

Since you think it may be of service that I give my 
opinion of what may conduce in this part of the country towards 
promoting the true principles of the Christian Religion & Chris- 
tian Knowledge I shall very chearfully contribute everything that 
may be expected of me for that purpose & you have my leave if 
you think proper to lay my sentiments before the Hofible Soci- 
eties which are established in England for those ends. 

The part of the Country where your Mission is fixed is nearly 
midway between the two principal cities in this Province viz*. 
New York & Albany & upon Hudson's River by which the trans- 
portation of all Goods and indeed all Travelling between those 
places is generally made. This intercourse is not only consider- 
able by the largeness of those two places & of the present Settle- 
ments round them but more especially that by the same Passage 
all the Trade to the vast Inland Countries now possessed by nu- 
merous Indian Nations is carried. So that this River must con- 
tinually grow more & more considerable by the great intercourse 
of Trade & people which must continually increase as the Chris- 
tian settlements do. 

Notwithstanding of the advantages in situation which this part 
of the country has it is more thinly inhabited & by a poorer & 
more ignorant set of people than any other parts of this Province. 
This has been occasioned by several incidents in the affairs of 
this Government & by an abuse in the method of granting Lands 
which I think of no use to my present purpose to mention partic- 
ularly. The Inhabitants are made up of various Nations and 
Religious Sects, of English, Irish, Dutch, Germans & French. 
They are no ways united among themselves & for this reason as 
well as their poverty none of the several sects have been able to 
give sufficient incouragement to any Ministers of their own de- 
nomination to reside among them — as the Inhabitants however 



38 Appendix. 

are daily increasing both in numbers and wealth some one of the 
sects will at least gain a prevailancy over the others & which if it 
should take a wrong turn to the prejudice of the Established Reli- 
gion will be more difficulty remedied afterwards than it may now 
be prevented — Or if this part of the country should remain in the 
divided & anarchical state in which it now is all notions of Re- 
ligion & even of Morality may be lost among the Inhabitants. 

For these reasons I think no part of North America deserves 
more the attention of the Societies for Propagating the Gospel in 
Foreign parts & of Christian Knowledge than this does, because 
none want the assistance of those Societies more than this by 
their being less able to give the necessary incouragement to Pas- 
tors to reside among them & there is no place where truely faith- 
ful & zealous Pastors may be of more use not only to the poor 
people who much want them but from the general good effect 
that the Success such Pastors may have upon all Neighbouring 
parts as this part is nearly situated in the center of this Province 
& upon the Road of so general an intercourse between the most 
distant Inland parts of North America & there is no Mission 
nearer than 60 Miles on one side & none on the other. 

Upon this occasion I hope these Honorable Societies will not 
take it amiss that I observe that their charitable assistance in 
some instances is not so carefully applied as the design of their 
institution seems to require for example They allow ^^50 a year 
to an assistant to the Rector of the Church of the city of New 
York under the name of a Catechist for the Negroes — Now if the 
Riches of the English Corporation of that city be considered the 
large sums they have expended in adorning their church by 
which it may vye with any Parish Church in England and their 
giving a very considerable sallery to an Organist I think it will 
not be easy to reconcile with the design of those Societies to 
allow jQ$o a year to an assistant to the Rector there & only ^30 
to the Missionary in this part of the country who preaches in 
course at three distant places of this country & to whom his 
hearers are not in a capacity to give him a sufficient incourage- 
ment for his subsistence & are in no capacity to build proper 
churches & a house for their Pastor. I must hope upon these 
things being properly represented to the Society & the pains you 
have taken in your mission under numerous discouragements 
they will augment your Sallery to what they usually allow other 



Appendix. 39 

Missionary's. This there is the more reason to expect when it 
may be done without any increase of charge but by retrenching 
an expences which upon proper enquiry they'l find is no way 
necessary. As I have observed in the case of an Assistant to the 
Rector of New York & perhaps a like may be discovered as to the 
Missionaries in all the principal Towns in the Neighbouring 
Provinces & in other places. 

As nothing contributes so much to the establishment of true 
Religion as Knowledge & on the contrary Superstition Fanaticism 
& Irreligion can only prevail among Ignorant People nothing 
seems to me more to deserve the attention of those Honble So- 
cieties in Great Brittain than the establishment of Publick Semi- 
naries of Learning in the Brittish Plantations & yet I think 
nothing has been more neglected by them in these parts. It is 
true there is a Publick Colledge in the Massachusetts Bay Gov- 
ernment & another in Connecticut but as these were established 
by the Independants they are under all the restrictions & preju- 
dices which arise from the narrow principles of men bigotted to 
those of Sects & none of their Masters have gained any reputation 
in any one branch of Learning. There is a Colledge which I 
suppose to be on a better foundation in Virginia, for what reason 
that has in no shape distinguished itself I know not, but the un- 
healthiness of the climate must discourage all others except the 
Inhabitants from sending their children thither. 

Tho' the Province of New York abounds certainly more in 
riches than any other of the Northern Colonies yet there has been 
less care to propagate Knowledge or Learning in it than any- 
where else. The only principle of Life propagated among the 
young People is to get Money & Men are only esteem'd according 
to what they are worth, that is the Money they are possessed of. 
For this reason it is I believe that the Inhabitants of this Province 
have gained no reputation among their Neighbours as to Morality 
— and I am afraid that there is so much truth in this that not only 
Religion will be in danger from the course of Life which too 
much prevails among the young People but the Civil Govern- 
ment likewise. This has occasion'd some who intertain thoughts 
for the benefit of posterity to think of erecting a Colledge in this 
Country. But the Assembly of this Province from the low method f 
of thinking which prevails among the Members could never be in- | 
duced to give any proper incouragement for this purpose. They ' 



40 Appendix, 

have only been persuaded to pass two acts at different times for a 
Public Lottery by which a Fund is laid in of about ^A^"^^ to be 
applied after this for erecting a College in such manner as shall 
be directed by some future act of Assembly. 

If one may be allowed to judge from what has been done in 
such like public occasions the selfish views of some leading men 
of the Assembly and the narrow thoughts of all of them may 
. . . too much prevail in any establishment or regulations 
which shall be made by them towards erecting a Colledge for 
Learning which may exceedingly prejudice the advancement of 
Learning or make the whole design abortive. It seems therefore 
to me that it well deserves the attention of the Societies for prop- 
agating the Gospel and Christian Knowledge in Foreign parts to 
have some attention to the erecting a Seminary for Learning 
in this flourishing colony and that it be put upon a proper Foun- 
dation. 

For this purpose may it not be proper for them to apply to His 
Majesty to have an Instruction sent to his Governor of New York 
and [not] to give his assent to any act of Assembly for erecting a 
Colledge in this Province till the whole scheme on which it is to be 
founded shall be laid before His Majesty & receive his approba- 
tion & be subjected to such alterations as his Majesty by the ad- 
vice of his Privy Councill shall think proper — promising at the 
same time that if ye Colledge or other Seminary of Learning be 
erected with His Majesty's approbation they may hope for his 
Incouragement & protection & likewise of incouragement by con- 
tributions from these Publick Societies and other public spirited 
persons in great Brittain that may be desirous to contribute to so 
usefull a work. 

The Province of New York seems to be on several accounts the 
most proper for a Colledge of any of the Northern Colonies 
for 

I?'. It is the richest & its Inhabitants most capable of giving 
proper incouragement for the Education of their Youth. 

2*'?' By its being immediately under the Government of the 
Crown & and the adjoining Governments being either Charter or 
Propriety Governments good policy seems to direct that it is more 
proper to trust the Education of Youth to such a Government 
than to others more Independent of the Crown & 

3"^!^' The Healthiness of the Climate is another inducement as 



Appendix. 41 

thereby the Neighbouring Colonies may be the more willing to 
send their children for Education there as it is likewise nearly in 
the center of the Northern Colonies. 

After having said so much in general I shall presume to give 
some information & my opinion on one particular which I think 
may be of use to the purposes I have had in view. 

There is a Tract of 500 acres of Land scituate upon Hudson's 
River & within the bounds of your mission at a place called New- 
burgh which was formerly granted for the use of a Lutheran 
Minister but by that minister's dying & all the Lutherans who 
lived there removing into other & distant parts it is now become 
useless for the purposes for which it was designed. The present 
Proprietors of the Land adjoining who purchased of these Lu- 
therans think that they now have the right to convert that Land 
to any pious use the most conformable to the first intention of 
the Grant. And for that reason have now applied it towards the 
incouragement of the Society's Missionary in these parts. But 
some Lutherans who live at a distance & who have no right 
in the Pattent or Lands with which this Tract of 500 acres of 
Land now granted pretend to disturb the members of the Church 
of England in their peaceable possession & give out their interest 
with the present Royall Family as the foundation on which they 
build their claims and by which they would discourage the present 
possessors of the Church of England in the use to which it is con- 
verted — yet there is only one Lutheran Congregation within 30 
miles of this place and the others are at least 60 from it. 

Now as this 500 acres is scituated on Hudson's River and at a 
place to which any Vessel that can come from Sea to New York 
may go and near the center of the Province in the most healthy 
part of the Province. No place seems more convenient for a 
Colledge. It is accompanied with this advantage that this Land 
can be obtained without any charge of purchase & such a quantity 
cannot be obtained anywhere else than can be Convenient for such 
purpose. It is sufficient both for a Glebe and Dwelling House 
for the Missionary or Minister and for all that may be necessary for 
the conveniences & use of a School or Colledge. 

Considering that the beneficial & pious uses to which this Land 
may be converted I think the Societies cannot be unwilling to be 
informed of the state of these Lands viz' while the L^ Lovelace " 
was Governor of this Province about 1707 'or 8 a number of Ger- 



42 Appendix. 

man Families came over to this Province with the Queen's Letter 
to the Governor to give them suitable encouragements for their 
settling — On v/hich the Governor ordered a Tract of Land to be 
laid out for them, and this tract of 500 Acres scituate in the Mid- 
dle of it to be laid out for a Lutheran Church of which these 
Lutherans declared themselves to be members & brought a min- 
ister along with them. 

Only nine Families with their Minister settled in this part of the 
country and so large a Tract as 500 acres for the use of so small a 
Congregation as nine Families being no way proportioned the 
issuing (it is supposed) of the Grant was delayed till it was seen 
whether any more would settle. In this state it continued till the 
year 17 19 when the President of the Councill in the absence of the 
Governor granted by Letters Pattent under the Seal of the Prov- 
ince these Nine Families including their Minister all the Land 
that had been laid out for them being 2190 acres together with 
this 500 acres for the use of their Church. 

Soon after they had obtained this Grant every one of these 
Germans sold their right to others and removed into distant parts 
of the country and now at present it is possessed by his Majesty's 
English subjects — nor is there one Master of a Family of the Lu- 
theran perswasion living upon that Tract granted to those nine 
German Families nor any of that perswasion so far as I know 
nearer than twelve or fifteen miles of that place nor any congre- 
gation of Lutherans nearer than thirty miles. 

After these Lands had remained about Twentyfive years with- 
out any Lutheran Congregation or Minister the present possessors 
and Proprietors & Inhabitants of the said Tract signed a Paper 
signifying their desire to have these 500 acres converted to the 
use of the English Church & for the advancement of Learning 
and Lawyers were consulted in what manner the use of these 500 
acres might be legally converted to the uses which the present 
Proprietors desire — But by reason of the war and publick dis- 
sentions in this Government nothing has as yet been done in a 
legal method. 

While these things were advising a Lutheran Minister living at 
Thirty miles from these Lands together with two or three persons 
who live fifteen miles from thence came and endeavoured to take 
possession of a small church which the Inhabitants had lately 
finished and enclosed on the said 500 acres but being prevented 



Appendix. 43 

in their designs by the owners of that Tract they gave out that 
they will make use of some Friends they have at His Majesty's 
court. 

These facts I believe to be true on the best information I can 
obtain but that the Society may have all the information necessary 
it may be proper for you to transmit a copy of the Letters Patent 
by which the said 500 Acres are Granted and a copy of the Paper 
signed by the present Proprietors. 

If upon advising with Council learned in the Law upon the said 
Letters Patent and the facts whicli I have set forth and that the 
said Tract has not for so many years been applied to the use for 
which it is designed nor cannot now be properly applied. And 
that no Trustees have been chosen in pursuance of those Letters 
Patent since the Germans left that place, It shall appear to them 
that the use can and ought justly be altered I am of opinion 
that it may be of great benefit to the promoting of Religion and 
Learning in this Province that His Majesty shall be advised to 
send Instructions to his Governor for that Purpose with particular 
directions how to proceed therein. 

This is all that I think necessary to say on the matters on 
which you desired my sentiments at least so far as at present 
occurs to my Memory. 

I am, sir, Your very humble Servant, 

Cadwallader Golden. 



III. — Original Prospectus of Columbia College. 

[From the New York Gazette : or Weekly Post Boy, June 3. 1754. No. 592.] 

May 31. 1754. 
Advertisement. 

To such Parents as have now (or expect to have) Children pre- 
pared to be educated in the College of New York. 

L As the Gentlemen who are appointed by the Assembly, to be 
Trustees of the intended Seminary or College of Neiv York, have 



44 Appendix. 

thought fit to appoint me to take the Charge of it, and have con- 
cluded to set up a Course of Tuition in the learned Languages, 
and in the liberal Arts and Sciences : They have judged it advis- 
able, that I should publish this Advertisement, to inform such as 
have Children ready for a College Education that it is proposed 
to begin Tuition upon the first Day of July next, at the Vestry 
Room in the new School-House, adjoining to Trinity Church in New 
York, which the Gentlemen of the Vestry are so good as to favour 
them with the Use of it in the Interim, till a convenient Place 
may be built. 

II. The lowest Qualifications they have judged requisite, in 
order to Admission into the said College, are as follow, viz. That 
they be able to read well, and write a good legible Hand ; and 
that they be well versed in the Five first Rules in Arithmetic, i.e. 
as far as Division and Reduction ; and as to Latin and Greek, That 
they have a good Knowledge in the Gratnmars, and be able to 
make grammatical Latin, and both in construing and parsing, to 
give a good Account of two or three of the first select Orations of 
Tully, and of the first Books of Virgil's ^neid, and some of the 
first Chapters of the Gospel of St. John, in Greek. In these Books 
therefore they may expect to be examined ; but higher Qualifica- 
tions must hereafter be expected : and if there be any of the 
higher Classes in any College, or under private Instruction, that 
incline to come hither, they may expect Admission to proportion- 
ably higher Classes here. 

III. And that People may be the better satisfied in sending their 
Children for Education to this College, it is to be understood, 
that as to Religion, there is no Intention to impose on the Schol- 
lars, the peculiar Tenets of any particular Sect of Christians ; 
but to inculcate upon their tender Minds, the great Principles 
of Christianity and Morality, in which true Christians of each 
Denomination are generally agreed. And as to the daily Wor-| 
ship in the College Morning and Evening, it is proposed that 
it should, ordinarily, consist of such a Collection of Lessons, 
Prayers and Praises of the Liturgy of the Church, as are, for 
the most Part, taken out of the Holy Scriptures, and such as 
are agreed on by the Trustees, to be in the best Manner expres- 
sive of our common Christianity ; and, as to any peculiar Tenets, 
everyone is left to judge freely for himself, and to be required 
only to attend constantly at such Places of Worship, on the 



Appendix. 45 

Lord's Day, as their Parents or Guardians shall think fit to order 
or permit. 

IV. The chief Thing that is aimed at in this College is, to teach 
and engage the Children to knmv God in Jesus Christ, and to love 
and serve him, in all Sobriety, Godliness, and Righteousness of Life, 
with 2l perfect Heart, and a willing Mind ; and to train them up in 
all virtuous Habits, and all such useful Knowledge as may render 
them creditable to their Families and Friends, Ornaments to their 
Country and useful to the public Weal in their Generations. To 
which good Purposes, it is earnestly desired, that their Parents, 
Guardians and Masters, would train them up from their Cradles, 
under strict Government, and in all Seriousness, Virtue and In- 
dustry, that they may be qualified to make orderly and tractable 
Members of this Society ; — and, above all, that in order hereunto, 
they be very careful themselves, to set them good Examples of 
true Piety and Virtue in their own Conduct. For as Examples 
have a very powerful Influence over young Minds, and especially 
those of their Parents, in vain are they solicitous for a good Edu- 
cation for their Children, if they themselves set before them Ex- 
amples of Impiety and Profanness, or of any sort of Vice whatso- 
ever. 

V. And, lastly, a serious, virtuous, and industrious Course of Life, 
being first provided for, it is further the Design of this College, 
to instruct and perfect the Youth in the Learned Languages, and 
in the Arts of reasoning exactly, of writing correctly, and speaking 
eloquently ; and in the Arts of numbering and measuring ; of Sur- 
veying and Navigation, of Geography and History, of Husbandry, Com- 
merce and Government, and in the Knowledge of all Nature in the 
Heavens above us, and in the Air, Water, and Earth around us, 
and the various kinds oi Meteors, Stones, Mines, and Minerals, Plants 
and Animals, and of every Thing jiseful for the Comfort, the Con- 
venience and Elegance of Life, in the chief Manufactures relating 
to any of these Things : And, finally, to lead them from the Study 
of Nature to the Knowledge of themselves, and of the God of 
Nature, and their Duty to him, themselves, and one another, and 
every Thing that can contribute to their true Happiness, both 
here and hereafter. 

Thus much, Gentlemen, it was thought proper to advertise you 
of, concerning the Nature and Design of this College : And I 
pray God, it may be attended with all the' Success you can wish, 



46 Appendix. 

for the best Good of the rising Generations ; to which, (while I 

continue here) I shall willingly contribute my Endeavours to the 

Utmost of my Power, 

Who am, Gentlemen, Your real Friend And most humble 

Servant 

Samuel Johnson. 

N. B. The Charge of the Tuition is established by the Trustees 
to be only 25s. for each Quarter. 



[From the N. Y. Gazette, July i. 1754. No. 596.]. 

This is to acquaint whom it may concern that I shall attend at 
the Vestry Room in the School-House, near the English Church, 
on Tuesdays and Thursdays every week, between the Hours of 
Nine and Twelve, to examine such as offer themselves to be ad- 
mitted into the College. 

Samuel Johnson. 



RD-6 4 



Collegium IRegale 1Rovi leboraci 



THE 



ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY 



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COLUMBIA COLLEGE 



GEORGE H. MOORE, LL.D. 

SUPERINTENDENT OF THE LENOX LIBRARY 



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